Wildfires threaten Texas, campers advised to forgo campfires

Five fires have burned at least 100,000 acres each in Texas in the past two weeks and fires still rage. Most of the state is in extreme drought, and wildfires in the past week alone have burned more than 1,000 square miles of parched Texas ranchland — an area that combined would be the size of the state of Rhode Island.

The Possum Kingdom Lake fire about 70 miles west of Fort Worth has grown from 63,000 acres to nearly 150,000 acres in just one day according to the Texas Forest Service. More than 30 homes have been confirmed destroyed in the Possum Kingdom area, and the forest service says that number will grow.

Temperatures are expected to return to the mid-90s with wind gusts of up to 35 mph. Of the 1.5 million acres burned in Texas this year, 90% were started by humans. 90%!

"The public just needs to be mindful that any use of outdoor fire should not be considered," said a Texas Forest Service spokesman on Tuesday. Campers and especially boondockers should avoid building a campfire until the fire danger is declared over by forest service officials.